Philly based artist (and frequent reader of the Geek) Eric Bresler is hosting his first solo show at the Atlantic Gallery in Kensington, an exhibit consisting entirely of Tezuka and Tezuka-inspired imagery. Those of you unfamiliar with Tezuka, he was the famed Japanese artist who created Astro Boy, Kimba the White Whale, and Black Jack.

According to Wikipedia, he’s often dubbed ‘the father of manga.” There are also unconfirmed reports of him rolling around in his grave after the release of the Astro Boy film.

But I digress.

According to Bresler, visitors who stop by for the opening night celebration this First Friday, will be treated to 1960′s Japanese rock and film screenings. To RSVP for the opening, you can check out the Facebook event page that Bresler has created. Or just show up and tell him Geekadelphia sent you.

Love after Tezuka : Eric Bresler’s First Solo Art Show
On Exhibit November 5th – December 4th
Atlantis: The Lost Bar, 2442 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, PA

Mutant Girls Squad is a three way collaboration between directors Noboru Iguchi (Robogeisha, Machine Girl), Yoshihiro Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police) and Tak Sakaguchi (Star of Versus) in a film that results in an all-you-can eat Japanese punk rock gore splatterganza. Noboru Iguchi and Yoshihiro Nishimura are probably two of the most prominent directors working in Japanese transgressive films, with such films as Tokyo Gore Police, Mutant Girls Squad and Machine Girl to their credit.

Little known fact? This film was actually conceived on American soil during a film festival where all three directors were guests. One night they met up at a bar and conceived the plot and when they returned to Japan they immediately started production, writing and shooting and Mutant Girls Squad.

The film is tells the story of Rin a normal Japanese school girl who, one day before her 16th birthday, finds out she has mysterious powers: she can turn her right hand into a hideous claw which can deflect bullets and tear through almost anything, turning it into a bloody mess.

Upon confronting her parents about her discovery she finds out she is half mutant (on her father’s side) and an anti-mutant security force promptly shows up to kidnap Rin, killing her parents. In retaliation, Rin kills the entire town. I assure you this is not an exaggeration, in one of the most hilarious and bloody scenes ever committed to digital film. Rin is then recruited for the mutant girls squad by a militant anti-human group and must decide which side, since she is half human, she will choose.

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Toy Story 3, the highest grossing film of 2010, hits Blu-ray today and the kind folks at Disney were nice enough to send me a copy of their 4 disc Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Copy set to check out and review. The release comes just in time for the pre-holiday shopping season and this will be the must have disc for any film fan on your Christmas list, young or old.

Toy Story 3 is the third and final chapter in one of the greatest animated franchises ever, and unlike most film franchises it got better with every installment. Toy Story 3 brings a heartwarming and fitting conclusion to the adventures of Woody and Buzz and leaves us with the kind of closure I wish was mandatory for any trilogy of films.

For those of you not fortunate enough to see the film in theaters, I won’t go too deep into details and spoilers about the plot except that Andy is going away to college. It’s a coming of age story for both him and Toys; who are no longer needed by Andy. I found the film to be surprisingly good and very emotional, as our favorite gang of toys are shipped off to Sunny Side Daycare to start a new life themselves.

Check out the review after the jump!

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Surprise! The annual Indy Hall & Geekadelphia Halloween bash was a massive success. Folks came out dressed to the nines (some to the Johnny Nines), tasty beverages were consumed, and fabulous prizes were dished out.

I’d like to thank Rob from Tattooed Mom, for (always) being a gracious host, the kind folks at Brave New Worlds for the fantastic prizes, the crazy crew at Indy Hall for again inviting us to join their costumed evening, the CityPaper for highlighting the party, and of course, everyone who came out and made the night special.

Vince Brown, known to the Internets as Attila, was our official photographer for the evening (after I yelled at him to get his camera from his car), and took some great images. Have a look at the Flickr gallery below, and visit Vince’s website.

Hire him or something, because I paid the guy in tater tots Saturday night.

I also may have ate them.

Alright. I wanted to post a nice photo of Jim Fowler on here to go along with this post… but there are just WAY too many Photoshop disasters of the guy floating around Google images. No seriously. Look at this image of him with a tiger cub. That background is killing me.

Anyway.

You can see a non-Photoshopped version of Jim Fowler, one of the world’s best known wildlife conservationists, this Thursday at the Academy of Natural Sciences. You might have seen him on television over the years, since he’s appeared on a number of wildlife programs, late night shows, and served as NBC’s wildlife corresponded for the Today Show.

At the lecture, Jim will talk about his life, conversation, and his work saving endangered species and threatened habitats.

You can register for the free lecture via the Academy of Natural Sciences’ Eventbrite page. Go ahead. Let them know you’re coming.

An Evening with Wildlife Conservationist Jim Fowler
Thursday, November 4
6pm (Reception), 6:30pm (Lecture), Free
jimfowlerwildlife.eventbrite.com

Filmmaker and cinema commentator Mike White will be in town this Wednesday, November 3rd, signing copies of his new book Impossibly Funky: A Cashiers du Cinemart Collection. Swing by Brickbat Books at 7pm to meet the talented writer and film buff.

I first became aware of Mike White when I read about a short film that was circulating on the tape trading circuit. A young director named Quentin Tarantino was just starting to make a name for himself with his heist epic Reservoir Dogs.

Turns out Reservoir Dogs was heavily inspired by a Chow Yun Fat film called City on Fire. Mike documented some of the glaring similarities in his short film called Who Do You Think You’re Fooling and stirred up quite the controversy while Dogs was still doing the festival circuit at the time, showing us what the word “Homage” meant to Tarantino.

Mike is coming to town in support of his book, which is a compilation of his zine (remember those?), which ran from 1994 to 2007 called Cashiers du Cinemart. The book is filled with some amazing essays and articles that every film fan and cinefile needs resting on their bookshelf.

He will be joined by long time contributor Chris Commins, and this looks to be a night any self respecting film fan shouldn’t miss.